This is The Writer's Voice, new fiction from The New Yorker.

I'm Deppertreisman, fiction editor at The New Yorker.

On this episode of The Writer's Voice, we'll hear Mary Gateskill read her story, acceptance journey,

from the December 24th and 31st, 2018 issue of the magazine. Gateskill

is the author of three novels and three story collections, including because they wanted to and

don't cry. Her novel, Veronica, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2005. Now here's

Mary G Gateskill.

Acceptance journey.

Carol had just come to her new sort of home in a town called Reinhorn.

She had driven five hours from her former home in Duchess County and arrived with stunned, hunted relief.

She had come to Reinhorn for a six-month job as an admin assistant in the dean of students' office at a private college.

The job had come through a Facebook friend and acquaintance from high school,

who was also friends with the admin assistant for whom Carol was standing in.

Thanks to their vague connection,

this total stranger had wrangled furnished accommodations for Carol on the ground that she was

recently divorced and struggling. Technically, Carol was not divorced, but yes, she was struggling. And so,

except for what she could fit in her car, she had put all her

stuff, the stuff from the house she'd shared with her husband, Lloyd, in a cheap storage unit

on a concrete lot. She had broken up with Lloyd six months before accepting the job in Reinhorn.

The night before driving to Reinhorn, she'd also broken up with

a boyfriend she'd been seeing. More exactly, she'd run out of their motel room after he'd become

enraged at her for singing, Aitin' Talkin' About Love in the Shower, and accused her of wanting to

...